Carl Pavano will likely miss the rest of the season (best case scenario is that he's back in time for the last 2-3 weeks of the season). Randy Johnson will be out until probably the 18th, 19th, 20th, instead of the 16th. Wang could be throwing off a mound as early as next week. Jaret Wright will start Monday (his first appearance since April 23).

So, where does this leave us?

Well, right now our rotation is something like Randy, Moose, Chacon, Small, Leiter. The best thing that could happen is for Wright to come in on Monday and pitch well. That would bump Leiter out of the rotation. For me, it's either him or Leiter in the rotation. Chacon and Small deserve to hold their spots. They have both pitched consistently well - so we can only hope that they continue down that road. This gives us a rotation of Randy, Moose, Chacon, Small, Wright/Leiter.

Then, let's say Wang gets back in August (late August - is that possible if he starts throwing next week? I have no idea (edit: guess not). Wang will simply bump the weakest performer out of Chacon, Small and Wright/Leiter. Something tells me Chacon won't be the weakest and it'll be Small or Wright/Leiter.

If we can pick up 2-3 games in the standings by that time, we'll be in good shape. That said, our pitching has been very good this week as we've allowed 2 runs in each game - bringing us to 8 total runs allowed over 4 games. Unfortunately, we've only been able to score 2.75 runs per game (1.66 if you throw out the 6-2 win to start the week). We've got to score more runs than that. No pitching is that good. If we allow just 2 runs in a game, we have to win that game.

(Update (thanks to reader Athos): According to the New York Daily News, Wright will bump Small out of the rotation with Leiter remaining.)

You can vote for the Yankees Hank Aaron Award nominee now at MLB.com. Each team gets one nomination and the award is "awarded annually to the best overall offensive performer in both the American League and National League."

Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Derek Jeter are the possible Yankee nominees. A-Rod gets my vote.

You can vote up until August 31. The Yankee nominee will be announced on September 6.

Shawn Chacon now has three dominant performances in three career starts for the Yankees as he gave up a run on three hits in 7 innings, but it was all for naught as former Yankee Jose Contreras pitched just as well and the White Sox beat the Yankees 2-1. The Yankees' loss coupled with an extra inning win for the Red Sox puts the Yankees 4.5 games behind their arch rivals with 51 games to play. Fortunately they couldn't lose any ground in the wild card race, as the two teams that were tied at the top played against each other last night (The Angels defeated Oakland 9-2).

The Yankees trailed by a score of 1-0 the most of the way and the White Sox went ahead 2-0 after Paul Konerko launched a home run of Alan Embree in the 9th inning. That home run proved to be the game winner as A-Rod launched his league leading 33rd home run (his 3rd in three games) to lead off the bottom of the 9th. The Yankees had runners on first and third with two outs when Bernie Williams came up to pinch hit for Tony Womack. He swung at the first pitch he saw from Dustin Hermanson and hit it down the first base line probably as hard as he has hit a ball all season, only to be caught for the final out by newly acquired White Sox' 1B Geoff Blum.

Bubba Crosby was the runner on 3rd when Bernie came up to bat in the 9th. Crosby reached third base on a single by Tino Martinez with two outs in the 9th. I don't understand why the Yankees didn't have Crosby try to steal second while Martinez was at the plate. Crosby has speed, and you greatly increase your odds of scoring obviously when you need only one hit to score a runner and not two. Had Crosby been on second when Tino got that hit, he would've scored and the game would've gone into extra innings.

Also, is it me or does Alan Embree just have that "Boston" look to him? I can't explain it, but seeing him pitch in pinstripes just looks so weird. He's got that very distinguishable face and when I look at him, I just think "Red Sox." I guess it's just because I've seen that face so many times underneath a BoSox cap over the years that I just can't get used to him being a Yankee, albeit he has only been here for about a week and a half.

"The only exciting thing that happened" in last night's game, according to George Steinbrenner, was when a fan jumped from the upper deck onto the net above home plate. Smart move, kiddo. He's lucky he didn't break his neck. The 18-year old kid was taken out of the stadium on a stretcher immediately following the game.

Aaron Small, who has been just as delightful a surprise as Chacon has, will take the mound this afternoon to face Freddy Garcia in the rubber game of this three game set. The Yankees can't really afford to fall much further back, so hopefully Small will give us what he's given us in his previous three starts.

Randy Johnson's next start could be in jeopardy. While covering first in yesterday's game against Toronto, RJ started to have back spasams.

In other bad news, Carl Pavano's return to the Bronx might be delayed further as he is going to visit Dr. James Andrews. In doing so, Pavano will miss his next rehab start.

The good news? The Yanks won today behind Al Leiter.

I hate to put it this way, but after Leiter's last performance, todays shut out ball for 5 2/3 innings was a big step.

Leiter allowed four hits and four walks while striking out two. Offensively, A-Rod and Jeter were huge today both having 3-4 days. A-Rod hit his 31st HR of the season in the second inning. Rivera closed out the game in the 9th for his 29th save.

An embarrassing moment for Matsui in the eighth when Eric Hinske hit a sac fly into left with the bases loaded. Matsui closed his glove on the ball thinking it was the 3rd out of the inning. Shea Hillenbrand scored easily from third. Greg Zaun tried to advance to third from second, when Matsui figuring out his error, threw to third for the out to end the inning. Embarassing, but nevertheless, and inning ending double play.

The Yankees next game will be tomorrow night against the Chicago White Sox. Mike Mussina (10-7, 4.05 ERA) will face former Yankee Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez (8-4, 4.69 ERA) at the Stadium in the Bronx. Game time: 7:05pm et

By the time the fourth inning was over, both starting pitchers had faced their last batter. Scott Downs, the Toronto starter, lasted just 3 and 1/3 innings, allowing 4 earned runs while The Unit would only go 4 before being pulled, having allowed 5 earned runs (6 in total). The Yankees defense didn't help much as they committed 3 errors in what appears to have been a pretty messy game.

The Yankees didn't score enough to cover what Randy allowed, scoring 5 runs in all. Derek Jeter went 3 for 5 with 1 run and 2 RBI. Sheffield went 2 for 3 with 2 walks, 1 run, 2 RBI and his 23rd home run of the season. Cano and Posada would each add 2 hits of their own.

Proctor would give up 2 ER in his 2 and 2/3 innings of work, bringing the Blue Jays up to 8 runs. Wayne Franklin pitched a scoreless inning, which means that he has now pitched 3 and 2/3 innings scoreless in his last 3 appearances. F-Rod got the final out.

The Red Sox are tied 3-3 in the 8th as I write this, so division impact is yet to be decided... but, the Athletics are crushing the Royals, so we're 4 back in the wild card race.

Al Leiter goes tomorrow (1-3, 6.05 as a Yankee) goes against Josh Towers (8-8, 4.53) tomorrow. I dare say it may be Leiter's last start with the Yankees if he doesn't turn in a good outing.

Despite various distractions, the Yankees won in impressive fashion with a 6-2 victory over the Blue Jays.

Aaron Small was solid once again, turning in his best start as a Yankee, going 6 and 2/3 innings, allowing just 1 ER. He got the win, improving his record to 3-0.

The Yankees got off to a great start in the 1st, with a lead off triple from D. Jeter followed by a two run blast off the bat of Gary Sheffield. The Yankees would add runs on RBI singles in the 8th (by Jeter and Posada) and sacrifice flies in the 4th and 9th (by Cano and Womack). Jeter, Sheffield, Matsui and Posada each had 2 hits. Sheffield hit his 22nd home run of the season.

The 4th time is a charm as Alan Embree finally settled down and pitched 1 and 1/3 innings of run free, hit free, walk free baseball. Sturtze relieved him and ran into a bit of trouble, allowing a run in the ninth and placing runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 out - but in came Mariano who quickly retired Alex Rios to end the game. Save number 28 for Mo.

All in all, (from the box score, it appears to have been) a pretty fundamentally satisfying win against a good team (.509 winning percentage in the AL East). The Red Sox lost, so we are now 3.5 games back in the division, while the Royals couldn't hold off the A's, so we remain 3 back in the Wild Card. The Unit will face Scott Downs (0-2, 5.23) tomorrow.

It's been 50 days since I took a look at the statistical pace that various Yankees players were on. Update time.

Mo
41 S (+6)
Mo has lowered his ERA 14 points since then and improved his save pace by 6 saves. He's converted his last 27 save chances.

Jorge
62 R (-3), 119 H (-27), 16 2B (-4), 21 HR (-1), 71 RBI (-12)
A vicious slump has caused him to drop in all 5 categories, with notable drops in hits and RBIs. He's been able to just about maintain his pace in the other categories.

Jeter
120 R (+14), 197 H (+13), 25 2B (+3), 4 3B (-1), 18 HR (+3), 65 RBI (=)
Jeter has noticably picked it up. If he maintains that hit total, it'd be his most in a season since 2000.

A-Rod
119 R (-5), 192 H (-2), 27 2B (-3), 45 HR (-3), 129 RBI (-12), 15 SB (=)
With the exception of RBI, he's basically maintained his excellent pace.

Matsui
110 R (+14), 189 H (+17), 44 2B (-1), 25 HR (+13), 123 RBI (+15)
What looked like it might be his worst year (but still a very good one) as a Yankee has turned into his best one. If he maintains this pace, he'd set new career highs in runs, hits, doubles and runs batted in.

Sheffield
108 R (+15), 180 H (+13), 32 2B (-5), 32 HR (+7), 123 RBI (+25), 10 SB (-5)
Sheff has really picked it up. As he stands right now, this season will be right on par with last season.

Also, a couple of others I didn't do last time (pitchers aren't as clear):

Randy
16-9, 237.3 IP, 227 K

Moose
15-10, 220.3 IP, 166 K

Shawn Chacon left the game in the 7th after giving up a walk. At the time the Yankees were ahead 2-1. Enter the bullpen, the somewhat achilles heel of the Yanks as of late, and by the end of the seventh the Yankees flushed their lead and what looked like their hopes of winning. You had to shake your head as Chacon still has not had the chance to take a win after pitching a brilliant game.

With one out in the 9th, A-Rod comes to the plate and launches a mammoth homer into the left field stands to tie the game. One out later, Giambi reaches for a ball and powers it into the right field stands. The ball seemed to lift further and further, and for a moment you would think that Cleveland rightfielder Casey Blake would come up with it at the wall. The Yanks took the lead 4-3.

Enter Sandman. Game over.

Some interesting notes: With Williams at second, and Flaherty at 1st (after getting plunked by Sauerbeck), Torre brings in Posada to pinch-hit for Womack. So much for Womack's heroics in the later part of the game. Posada ends up striking out.

It was commical the way Ken Singleton on the YES network framed Mo's last pitch against Coco Crisp. Ken said that left-handers could not do anything against Mo's cut-fastball up over the plate. Flaherty called for the pitch exactly where Singleton said, although Mo delievered it low for a ball. Very next pitch, Flaherty sits up for the pitch, and Mo strikes them out with the exact pitch called for. I really enjoy Ken Singleton in the booth for just that. That save was Rivera's 27th.

It was Giambi's 21st homer of the year and tied him with Sheffield. Shef is way ahead of Jason in just about every other category. A-Rod's homer in the 9th tied him with Manny Rameriez for the league leading 30th HR.

Tonight the Yankees play the Toronto Bluejays. Aaron Small (2-0, 4.05 ERA) takes on Gustavo Chacin (11-5, 3.28 ERA). Lets hope our bullpen pulls it together, and we continue to get solid pitching from Aaron Small.

Former Yankee first-base coach and current Baltimore Oriole manager Lee Mazzilli got the axe today.

The Orioles started the season on fire, but are currently in an 8 game losing streak, and have lost the last 16 of 18 games.

I believe he got a bad deal. The team is riddled with injuries, and the pitching staff came back down to Earth. I dare say they couldn't have had a better man than Mazzilli. I would welcome him back in some sort of position with the Yanks.